Monument Good Idea, But Budget Too Tight

Opinion - Letters to the Editor - Speaking out on schools

April 4, 1993

MUCH CAN be said- and is being said - about the Lake County School Board. One of the most questionable topics of unfinished business at the March 23 meeting was the update on the erection of a monument at the Kenneth A. Bragg Public Safety Complex to be funded with our tax dollars in honor of public safety practitioners killed in the line of duty.

The idea is an honorable one if our School Board had a windfall of money and had met our county's educational needs. However, this is not the case, and I find this idea intolerable when we're faced with a strapped budget already. How can we cut back another teacher's position in favor of a monument?

If the School Board has already committed itself to honoring these people, why not do so in terms of a yearly $100 scholarship to a deserving Lake County senior entering the public safety field?

It could be named and recorded in honor of those killed in the line of duty, still be cost-effective and send a positive message to the person to whom it is bestowed.

Lake County residents, it's time that all of us get involved in the activities that affect our educational present and future. The School Board members were elected to represent us. It's time we make sure their decisions represent the majority and not a chosen few. Be active, be vocal.